21 Grams (15)

Three strangers' lives are thrown together by a chain of unplanned events, leading to a fatal and fateful resolution. Paul (Sean Penn) is a mathematician with a broken heart, literally and metaphorically. Paul is bedridden, and nursed by his girlfriend, who desperately wants to bear his child. Jack (Benicio Del Toro) is an ex-con who found God, and now inflicts him on his family. Cristina (Naomi Watts) is a respectable wife and mother, and a former drug addict. The three are unconnected, until their fates are brought together by a car crash.

21 Grams is the second feature from Mexican writer-director team Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu, and like their debut, Amores Perros, it features a fractured narrative which jumps around the story, cutting between past, present and future. This is initially confusing, but after a while the main chronological thread becomes clear, as does the fact that, despite superficial similarities with films like Memento or The Usual Suspects, there is no mystery to piece together. Instead, the filmmakers try to show us scenes in order of their importance to the narrative, giving away the ending early on to ensure that the audience is focussed on the why and not the how, and escalating the sense that the tragic events are predestined.

As this innovation suggests, 21 Grams exhibits a rare passion for the medium itself. It's unsurprising then that the cinematography is striking, using handheld cameras, a range of grainy stocks, and a bleach-bypass development process to give the film a lurid, eye-catching palette. What little music there is is discreet and effective, and the performances are generally excellent, although I found Naomi Watts a touch melodramatic.

21 Grams is an interesting film; a thoughtful meditation on death, with complex well-drawn characters. The film is loaded with imagery and metaphor (for instance, each character figuratively or literally loses a child at the moment they lose their innocence and hope).

However, despite the impressive skill on show, the film fails to engage as a story - partly perhaps because we do already know the ending. The characters are selfish and unpleasant, and the film's message is depressing and fatalistic. Towards the end it becomes increasingly portentous and humourless (particularly in the explanation of the film's title) and we come away wondering what might have been had the material been approached with a lighter touch.

David Haviland, Feb. 2004